ANTONIO TEMPESTA, CALLED IL TEMPESTINO , 1555 – Rome, 1630

Battle Scene Against the Turks and Death of Absalom Pen and brush with brown ink, brown ink wash. 145 x 223 mm Antonio Tempesta was a Florentine artist battle of the Christians against the Muslims.1 who developed most of his career in Rome, where he died. In Florence, his training was marked by late Mannerism. He participated in the decoration of the before moving to the Eternal City, where he received important commissions, from the Church as well as from the rich bourgeoisie. He carried out grand decorations in the loggias of the Vatican for Pope Gregory XIII, as well as in the Gallery of Cartographic Maps, together with the Flemish artist . He worked, as well, for important cardinals, such as Alessandro Farnese and Scipione Borghese. Fig. 1. Antonio Tempesta, Battle scene against the Turks. Pen with brown ink, grey wash. Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 1814). After a brief sojourn in his native city, he returned to Rome. He started to devote himself to drawing and engraving, The artist emphasises the battle scene by techniques which allowed the work of highlighting the figures with a wash in a Tempesta to be disseminated all over darker brown ink. The dynamism of the Europe and attain great fame. His scene, the intricate postures of the knights engravings inspired various generations of and the steeds, the manner of suggesting artists, from Francesco Allegrini to Rubens movement, are hallmark characteristics of and Velázquez. He is known, among other the work of Antonio Tempesta. works, for some 220 illustrations of the Old Testament, known as the “Tempesta Bible”. In the background of the composition a Additionally, he realised illustrations for biblical scene is represented. Absalom, third Jerusalem Delivered (1581), epic poem by son of David, appears in the Book of Kings Torquato Tasso which evokes the defense of of the Old Testament, where his Christianity against the threat of the Muslims extraordinary beauty is highlighted. Absalom during the First Crusade. wishes to accede to power and comes into conflict with his father. In his flight from the This drawing, which represents a battle troops of David, Absalom’s long hair scene in the foreground and the death of becomes tangled in the branches of an oak Absalom in the background, could be an tree, and Joab, David’s captain, takes example of both facets of his graphic work; advantage to shoot three arrows in his back. it illustrates his taste for the representation In this work, we see the classic iconography of biblical scenes as well as his work on the reflected, which represents Absalom epic poem by Torquato Tasso. The stopped in his flight, caught in a tree and composition, especially the central motif of preceded by his mount, which continues to the two battling knights, is very similar to run. Tempesta represented several times this another drawing by the same artist which is episode of the death of Absalom at the hand conserved in the Louvre Museum (Fig. 1). of Joab, both in painting (Fig. 2) and in The knight on the right, wearing a tunic drawing (Fig. 3). blowing in the wind and a turban, evokes the image of someone from the East, while his enemy incarnates the figure of a Christian soldier, with more austere attire and a plain helmet. This scene could evoke Canto XIX of Jerusalem Delivered, by Torquato Tasso, the 1 The Illustrated Bartsch, 37, New York, 1984, p. 110. This drawing by Tempesta illustrates his taste for both the representation of biblical episodes and scenes from Jerusalem Delivered, as well as his dexterity in depicting battle scenes. Tempesta also demonstrated his mastery for the representation of battles in grand decorative cycles, such as that of the Palazzo del Marchese Santa Croce sotto il Campidoglio in Rome.

Fig. 3. Antonio Tempesta, The Death of Absalom. Pen with Fig. 2. Antonio Tempesta, The Death of Absalom. Oil on copper brown ink, black pencil and ink wash. Paris, Musée du Louvre plate. Tour, Museum of Fine Arts. (inv. 1815).